Mass Effect: Filii Tenebris
by Grey Pantom 01
Summary: The Citadel Council is a conglomerate of species too entangled in their web of politics and refinement to survive the oncoming darkness. After commander Shepard's resurrection, as well as the death of the Councilors the galaxy is not yet ready to take on the Reapers. However, the awakening of a Demon race may be the key for survival.
1. Prologue

**Mass Effect: Filii Tenebris**

**Prologue**

On the height of Man the starts were not right.

On the Great Dolmen Cloud the Heart of Evil beats.

The Sin of the Cancer. The Protean of corrupted flesh.

God of the Festering Mass, he who consumes all.

Worlds fell, enslaved to his might, to become cattle for a hungry God Tumor.

The Elder Dark could not protect the Galaxy from his maw. The Chosen Children of the Night could not stop his might.

All was to be lost for the imprisoned Father of Light chained his Children.

But the Chosen Night foresaw and aimed their Lance of Time and sacrificed the Father of Light for a glimmer of hope.

The End could not be stopped, but they would survive in another path of time, away from the Festering Mass.

On another Tale of Time.

* * *

-17200 BC-

Under the light of its distant parent star a dead moon orbited silently around its world. The shimmering reflected light of blue and brown from the massive gas giant caressing its frozen icy surface. This world would never know life, too far, too cold, too cruel and dead. Not even the orbit of its parent planet could resuscitate its core, for it was too perfectly circular, a cruel rarity in the universe and a testament to the fallacy of flawlessness. The curse of precision, for life is a dance only born of elusive imperfections in the modelling of the cosmos.

However above this lonesome realm, something was happening.

A thunderclap of light reverberated high in orbit, and a wave of oblivion screamed from its eruption. An immense amount of power shattered the barrier between space and time, creating a gravitational wave of insurmountable power. The great wave slammed against the moon and the gas giant, causing ripples on their surface to form outwards.

As fast as it had come it was gone, but not without leaving anything in its wake.

In the heart of where the explosion had been a great structure had taken its place. Long, serpentine. Its form was that of a creature, but this was no mere animal. Sixty kilometers in length and a hide of shining metals told a very different story of its nature. A mechanical life form of immense size and power, one with the strength and will to cross the barrier between worlds. However, such an endeavor was not without its great risks, as the various pieces of debris surrounding the metal creature indicated.

With a groan that even resonated in the tackles void of space, the great Jormungandr let gravity take a hold and made its uncontrolled descent into the icy moon. Having resigned to its fate as transitioning from its own reality was an effort too great for the being. However inside its vast body lay trillions of advanced quantum pseudo-organic circuit structures that were in a very different state. These advanced circuits were called the Infinity Drives and in them the scream of a million souls violently resonated.

The sounds of pain/madness/anguish/insanity/suffering/irrationality/hurt reverberated across the Infinity Drives, rendering everything else mute and unessential. It was the agony of escaping their own reality, entering into an alien realm that no matter how similar it was to your own it always had a fundamental difference in its making. And so your making must change to be part of this Truth, but it is never so smooth and easy.

They screamed, they begged for an end to their pain, and by the mercy of Fate they were not alone. They were not the only ones to reach this realm. An Elder Dark had followed, but its location is far and beyond reach, but not its mind's.

With ancient whispers of power the ancient precursor spoke undeniable words into the Child of Night gestalt, their screams and torments ended by the will of their gods and ceased their functions. Falling to a death like sleep the entirety of the Night descended into a torpor so that through the course of time, in sleep they would hum in synchronicity to the universe's laws.

Their arrival into this realm meant much for the future of the galaxy and probably the universe itself, one thing that was immediately seen however is how the once perfectly circular orbit of the frozen moon no longer was so, but instead a much stretched elliptical one. Life had not had the opportunity to be born on this dead moon, but fate had decreed otherwise on this very day.

The once dead moon will have right to life in its future.

* * *

-1301 AC-

-Presently known as Aro 412 System-

A Salarian exploration fleet, little more than a three frigates and some corvettes to accompany them, exited FTl into the Aro 412 system. Telescope imaging showed it had three rocky planets in the inner orbit, one within the goldilocks zone, yet had very little indication that had any liquid water on its surface, not even atmosphere, so very doubtful that any form of life would surface here.

Beyond those three worlds however was a gas giant with a rather high level of interest. Rich in helium, a possible source of Hellium-3, so it was with this mission that the Union sent forth to investigate.

As the exploration fleet moved in to begin perform deep scanning of the gaseous planet and it's surrounding four moons the VI onboard notified the crew of a very peculiar anomaly on one of the planet's moons.

Noticing the oddity, Laestol Lou, the sensors officer read and re-read the data being transmitted, to the computers it looked like a very strange mountainous formation that was elevated beyond the heights of the frozen ocean. However for him it had was something else, so he ordered as many sensors on the side of the moon as possible.

Two minutes later of scanning and his jaw metaphorically hit the floor. The systems made use of RADAR, LADAR, gravimetric and other less common methods that were standard in Salarian ships. All the data processed and the image of a sixty kilometer long serpentine creature showed itself as clear as day. An impossibility if Laestol could say anything about it, but the truth was beyond staggering. It was no artificial building because further scanning showed evidence of a crater formation running down the whole length of the metal creature. It had crashed there and no ship, ever, would be built so much like a creature. There was absolutely no need of it.

So what was it?

A space borne organism? Maybe, but why have they not found any evidence of the animals elsewhere? Yet scanning shows its hide is made of an unknown, yet highly pure substance. No organic life form could have such a level of purity in its body. Unless it was not organic! Synthetic entity? A type of AI? Or a mechanical life form? Synthetics did count as life if some philosophers' opinions rang true. Still though, how could it have become so massive? It was even bigger than the Citadel. Not just longer, it was far larger than the collective mass of the Citadel. The sheer resources to create something of that magnitude was beyond staggering. Not to mention the amount of Eezo needed.

Then a though he had practically forgotten in the excitement surfaced with an annoyed look. He did not inform his captain.

"Captain, you need to see this!" He called the man in question with every ounce of excitement he had.

The Salarian Captain turned to Laestol, quickly pacing towards the man and seeing what his eyes were so frantically trying to show. "What is it?" he asked but no reply came, instead he was happily directed to the sensors screens. "Oh my…" he then joined Laestol in dropping his jaw to the floor. Metaphorically speaking of course. "Call the Union, ASAP! Private channels only!"

* * *

To be commencing…


	2. Chapter 1

**Mass Effect: Filii Tenebris**

**Chapter 1**

The Great Palace of Athame. Home to the great Council of Matriarchs, the great democratic leaders of Asari space. Or that is what the image that they maintain towards the galaxy at large and their own domain. In truth, they are the puppeteers of the Asari race and masters of the galaxy, playing their Game of domination and cutthroat politics behind smoke screens and subtle manipulations.

This is as it was and will be. For no one, not even the clever minds of the Salarian race could ever keep any worthwhile secrets in the dark from their prying eyes. Such was the case, that when the Game between azure alien ceased to be and their focus turned to another, and it meant a slaughter.

Rarely was it ever as perfectly executed as with the Great Serpent, the greatest secret the Union had ever tried, and failed, to keep to its own. It was swift and precise and now they hold claim to the fantastical resources and technologies the serpent could ever hold.

The Council of Matriarchs was full of chatter, faux polite compliments and ersatz smiles, recounting and retelling fond moments of old. However, that ceased the moment one Asari clad in midnight black entered the stage and silence drowned the council chambers.

Her features obscured by a black robe that left no skin visible on her body a brown porcelain mask that covered her face, or so it was perceived. Fact of the matter was, that this particular Asari had removed her face long ago and this mask had taken its place. She was feared since time immemorial, the greatest and most powerful of all beings that tread the earth in recorded history.

She was the Mother.

A figure of Thessian legend for several thousands of years, and one of the most pivotal individuals who have kept Asari rule over the galaxy. No one, not even the STG Chief nor the Shadow Broker knew who she was, nor the extent of her powers. So for her to come in person it meant something beyond the normal had appeared.

"Most revered Mother. It is an honor to grace us lesser beings with your divine presence." Matriarch Lidanna expressed her reverence.

But it did not stick. The Mother knows Asari like she knows herself, they are all an open book to her thousands of years of rule and she knows what is in their minds. They do not dare to even speak against her near omnipotence over the rest of the Council of Matriarchs, no matter how much they find it unpalatable. But they know her rule is what keeps the Asari race so far beyond of everyone else. Despite the Matriarchs' skills, while they would certainly rule, it would not be anywhere near as all-encompassing and far reaching without her.

Thanks to her they have their hands around the throats of the Alliance's highest echelons, the darkest secrets of the Hierarchy and the depths of the unnaturally of the Batarian Hegemony. All woven through masterful guile and spy work.

"An honor to be here among you my sisters." She replied with equal as much faux delight. "But we are short in time and an important event has caused my attention to return to the galaxy at large and must be addressed at once." She finished speaking and the rest of the matriarchs looked at each other in confusion and with a modicum of worry.

The Mother let the chatter continue on for a few moments, letting the Asari present to realize what might be at stake here if the Mother of all people deemed it fit to intervene.

Mother rose her hand and the deep blue glow of a custom omnitool shone as it did its operations. Soon the image of an icy moon appeared on the large holo-projectors in the amphitheater. This moon is a well-known in the upper echelons of Asari government and it is a secret kept from the entirety of the galaxy at large. On the white surface of the moon, the highlighted image of a serpentine creature with great fins appeared, and worry truly began to seep into the matriarchs. "As you all know, the Great Serpent is as much a source of new technologies as it is filled with mysteries. We have only began to scratch the surface of what it has hidden deep inside its adamantium hide and only through our absolute monopoly over Prothean technology." She paused and looked at the rest before returning to her speech. "Semi-officially there have been only two discoveries of any mayor relevance concerning the Great Serpent. Unofficially though…" She allowed the small mirth that statement caused, "…there have been sixteen, only thanks to the Prothean's tech we have available."

The images shifted, the moon was banished and in its place the black and red form of an Obelisk, one of the many strange and enigmatic artifacts within the vowels of the Serpent's body. "But, a new discovery has come, as you know, the Serpent's relationship with human blood has been a hot topic among ourselves. Only know we have realized how far it runs."

The pins on all the omnitools in the hands of each of the matriarchs told them of a number of files entering their device.

"The messages from one of my Daughters has informed me of a possible threat to our domain. I suggest you read the ones I highlighted."

* * *

_Arogath Research Base- -Aphinthor Ice Moon- -Great Serpent System-_

_Date: 2185 AC_

_Journal entry: #807_

_Date: *********_

_My journal dearest, I was at last assigned to the Arogath Research Base. My days here will be mostly under the surveillance of one Salarian named Jordun –and nothing more, he does not like sharing names-, my first impressions of him were… measured. You can say that he is the typical Salarian scientist. You know; dedicated, talented, quick talking, in love with the sound of his own voice, amoral. In other words, someone I can get behind so long as we are not opposed in our agendas. He knows what my job is and what is his, and we're cool with that. To do research on the Great Serpent and its technologies, also on spying on each other and report to our respective head honchos, which in my case is you mother dearest!_

_Also there are some Asari matrons here. And they don't like me. Feeling's mutual, commoners were never meant to intermingle with beings such as us._

* * *

_Journal entry #808_

_Date: *********_

_Journal of the grandiose self. It seems that the STG has forced the date to remain hidden on my journal entries. For whatever reason it may be. So be it. It matters not the dating of my updates, so long as they reach in good time. I check quite often to be certain of that. Naughty froggies._

_Anyhow, Jordun has been quite helpful helping me get up to date with the work I will be assigned with. As in, a document with inly sixty pages in length. It just shows how little we have managed to crack the tech of this Serpent._

_I had been warned, before arriving here, that the amounts of discoveries achieved here could be counted with one hand. It was so few that they did not need to express that it could be done with any of the species' hands. Two discoveries! Only two mayor breakthroughs! One is the Salarian cyberware tissue that vastly outperforms every form of cybernetic technology we have ever discovered, even in Prothean ruins. The other one is the UsO-x59, the only substance we can produce without the need of the tech here. PS. Now I know what happened to Lissagne! You injected her that stuff and made her batshit insane. That is so you mother dearest! It was a very fun seven years. Though I'd prefer that you warn us when you are going to make use of super biotic psychic powder again, it may have been fun, but I almost lost my head that day. And my neck, and torso, and arms, and kidney. Well, you get the idea._

_Well, his work is mostly around the research of the Red Obelisks. As you know most adored mother, no one has made any serious discoveries regarding the freaky glowing rocks. Apart that is composed of some indestructible quartz crystal that we cannot replicate, or that has a molecular structure that is all but impossible, we know nothing else about it. Black stone with a red glowing liquid core… ominous. And that is what our resident madman (Jordun) is working on. And I am his assistant. Yeah sure. As much as a chameleon like me can be._

_It seems that he is convinced that he can get something out of it while no one has done any progress in a millennium. Talk about overachiever._

* * *

_Journal entry: #809_

_Date: Pending_

_Grand journal of this one, today was a fantastic day. I spied on so many people that I lost count. Actually only 34, but still. Oh, the things you learn when snooping for people's secrets. So much gossiping material. Then again, is that not what spywork is all about, mother dearest? The one who has the most gossip material wins in the end. Such fun. For instance, I learned that one of our resident Salarians is actually a psychopath –I know right? Hilarious! To be considered a psychopath among psychopaths. Ah the irony of organics.-, having a count of nearly a thousand confirmed murders and unethical experiments, each. He's too good to not dispose, however he thinks himself a bigger fish than what he truly is, I might have some fun with him in the near future. I mean, he is going to try to escape and blackmail the union with all he has learned. It will be so delicious to shatter his plans._

_Anyway, since I also double as a researcher, I might as well do my work. Nothing much to talk about. Not even those six AIs can crack anything regarding the Serpent. How boring._

* * *

_Journal entry: #810_

_Date: Pending_

_Most esteemed journal of I, today has been a grandiose day indeed. In fact we have had quintuple the activity as of late. As you'd probably know by now Mother dearest, we have finally made a breakthrough in uncovering the sciences behind the Great Serpent!_

_These are truly immense news. Finally, we did something at last! It only took nearly a thousand years, but we finally found something with the Red Obelisks. It was totally accidental, but by the Goddess's glorious tits it was the best thing ever! I cut myself with one of the shaper surfaces of the Obelisk and guess what happened?! It reacted to the blood! Blood! I know it sounds weird and nonsensical but hey react to contact with blood. The surface shifts around the contact area! Fascinating! Yet we have no clue what this means. But at least it's something! Experiments will be conducted and forwarded soon._

* * *

_Journal entry: #811_

_Date: Pending_

_Grand journal of me, we have an update! Glorious fantastic update! Esteemed Jordun has been experimenting with other blood samples and other Obelisks. The results have been interesting. First of all, all Obelisks are affected similarly by blood contact. The reactions are the same throughout all samples of blood –with a shivering of the surface undulating outwards from where the blood sample made contact-, with one mayor exception. Human blood. The standard reaction was not present, instead, the blood was absorbed. We made tests and we confirmed an increase in mass whenever the human samples were absorbed._

_Secondly it is able to differentiate real blood from artificial blood. We do not know how it achieves such as the STG has created exact replicas of all substances present in blood, including vat grown cells that no one could differentiate from the real ones, and yet the Obelisks could. This is both fascinating and a little bit disturbing._

_We are following with tests via dipping an Obelisk in a tab full of human blood. As you can see, it might take a while because it does not accept the artificial stuff and well, we do not have many humans available right now._

* * *

_Journal entry: #813_

_Date: Pending._

_My most esteemed journal. Today we acquired the requisitioned amount of bodily fluids for our experiments. Tests were… not what we had expected. When we dipped the Obelisk in the container it absorbed the blood as we expected. What we did not expect was that it used it to create a… womb. The bottom half of the Obelisk broke, and in-between the fragments the mass of a festering mass of tissue was visible._

_We have tried acquiring samples from the womb to no avail. It is just as resistant to abrasion as the quartzite part of the obelisk, rendering almost all of our attempts at study to be limited to scanning, though even that is presenting challenges as the tissue samples do not allow any deep scanning beyond two centimeters._

_I have sent you an attachment of all our summary tests with detailed descriptions. We will also be bringing humans in to do further experiments. We hope to gain some insights on the Obelisks' relationship with humans._

* * *

_Journal entry: #821_

_Date: Pending_

_My dear journal of myself. Today was a… troubling day. The human test subjects we brought a few days back have all been found dead inside their cells. No sign of trauma. No toxins. Even all exams to identify possible means for a subtle and undetectable death have been negative. All reports say a peaceful passing. I am a tad disillusioned by that, Salarians do not waste precious resources, and neither do I for that matter. They could have been useful for other tests._

_There is more. I managed to get some information from the wardens that kept the humans in check and they say that they have been having strange mental episodes that were not conclusive to their previous history. I have not gotten a hold on the medical records yet nor anything that can tell me how severe were the mental alterations since they arrived, but judging what the wardens' expressions, this is completely outside of the norm. The youngest of the samples, a 23 year old white male with no mental health issues, suffering from random bouts of hallucinations mumbling about the Dead Sea and the Chamber of Gauff._

_Mother I have dropped the facade. There is something going on in here and I think there could be a possible mental contamination similar to that with the Reaper samples. The STG and the Council of Matriarchs have already taken measures. Situation has gotten serious and I do not like the implications. The Reapers were one thing, but are ultimately a known. The Serpent is not and its size alone breaks almost all known models of physics._

* * *

_Journal entry: #229_

_Date: Pending_

_Mother, we are in trouble._

_Usually I start my journal/messages with a variant of the phrase 'My dear journal'. Not this time. Situation has greatly escalated and we are having reports of multiple individuals suffering from mental episodes that are congruent with what the human samples were experiencing._

_I myself have suffered them as well. Only in my dreams, but. Every night it is the exact same recurrent dream. I am standing at a shore with black sand and a black ocean in front of me. I cannot move. I cannot look away from the black waters. The sky is dark and the color of red. However one thing has started happening. I am seeing a figure slowly walk out of the waves. Each night it gets one step closer. Some of the other investigators have begun recently having this dream._

_As a final note, the womb from the Red Obelisk. I hear it sing. But there is no sound coming off it. This area is contained and these may be our last days alive before the STG drops a slug from orbit to cleanse the area. Mother, it was an honor serving the Republics._

* * *

They finished reading and turned to Mother, "While I know that we have our contingency against the Reapers, they at least are a known threat and we can deal with them. This though, I do not think we can." She began to work on her omnitool as she continued speaking, "Not in our usual manner. The last message that I received was not a text. It was an audio video recording, yet the video itself was corrupted beyond saving. The only thing that remained, was the audio. I warn you all, the sound can cause severe pain. So ready yourself."

She sent the file to the computers to be projected on the holograms. The video was a jumbled mess. Only thing visible were parts on the periphery were Asari and Salarian alike stood.

The voices of both Asari and Salarian alike began to fill the amphitheater as the recording was played. "Nie." A voice not of those assembled broke the chatter. Its tone feminine yet with an echo of much more. "Nie." It repeated and denial began to flow through the expression. Again it said the same word. Each time becoming more frantic and desperate. "Nie. Nie. Nie! Nie! NIE! NIE! NIE! **NIEE!"** Until the final sound broke the denial and replaced it with rage.

A roar of immense volume and depth exploded from the speakers as the creature in the recording gave its ultimatum of wanton death and destruction. The matriarchs present clutched their heads and ears. The scream carried a supernatural tone and bit down into their minds. Hatred, regret, despair, pain, suffering, fatalism, denial, hatred, Hatred, HATRED, **HATRED! **It was the voice of a tired beast who has been through enough to demand the end of all. Its hatred pouring through that paranatural voice telling the universe itself it demanded its death so that to be free! It demanded indiscriminate death to all before it! Nothing will survive, nothing will endure!

The End has come for all!

As soon as the scream ended the wails of horror and agony from the aliens began. And the recording finished.

Silence reigned supreme from the collective shock to their world views. All Asari present felt the hatred resonate so purely from the thing's voice that it somehow carried itself beyond the digital and clawed at the minds of its victims. Even reaper technology could not achieve such a thing. A few had lost consciousness, the resonating wail nearly breaking their frail psyche.

The one who stood firm, if somewhat shaken was the Mother, for she had already endured the scorn of the horror before.

She turned to the still aware assembled Asari and studied each of their faces. Fear, shock, horror, revulsion, but most of all, denial. For something had fallen outside of their domain and they do not know how to overcome it. For the first time the rule of the Asari race has been challenged by something only by its mere presence. "The Game has ended. There is something out there that dares defy our rule."

They all turned to her with cold fury in their eyes and steel in their souls. "Let us demonstrate whatever it is why we are not to be messed with."

* * *

End

AN: That which roams in your dreams. Fear the Crown of Black and the Three Pillars of Ruin.

grey-phantom-01/art/Mhuzana-821208319


End file.
